Nothing brings Bahamians together more than the cultural phenomenon of Junkanoo. Through this timeless activity, community and creativity are fostered across ages and economic backgrounds. Thanks to a significant donation to the Junkanoo community that totaled $226,000 by the Bahamas Telecommunications Company Ltd. (BTC), Bahamians were able to build and celebrate their cultural heritage together.
"We have been working with Junkanoo for several years and we wanted to deepen and expand that," explains Marlon S. Johnson, vice president, brand and communications for BTC. "One of the key elements of the new, privatized BTC is to deepen its ties to the community," he continued. "We want it to center around elements like youth engagement, sports and cultural expression. I think there's no bigger representation of Bahamian culture than Junkanoo, so we said we would talk to the Junkanoo community and see how we could support and engage with them in a significant way."
Wanting to make a donation that would significantly impact all of the Junkanoo groups in the A and B categories fairly, BTC through the Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence gave $56,000 towards the choreography section of each group, and another donation of $100,000 in support of both the Boxing Day and New Year's Day parades on New Providence.
The significant amount is the largest single sponsorship donation ever received, earning them Diamond Sponsor status according to the Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence. For that reason, the two parades were renamed the "BTC 2011 Boxing Day Parade" and the "BTC 2012 New Year's Day Parade."
Yet the corporation is not so much about its name as it is about supporting an exercise that positively impacts the community in such a widespread way. To that extent, they also made separate donations of $20,000 to support the Grand Bahama Junkanoo Parade and $50,000 to support Junior Junkanoo throughout the islands, allowing them to sponsor 32 schools directly.
"We're on board - if we're in for a penny, we're in for a pound," says Johnson. "We're not about just showing up to Bay Street and putting up a banner; we want to be an integral part of the whole lead up and really connected in a substantial way."
Indeed, its donations to Junior Junkanoo display a deep commitment to ensuring young people especially have a positive and creative outlet to express themselves in the community and engage in activities that, in all instances, provide important life lessons and build character.
"One of the wonderful things about Junkanoo is the amount of real positive life lessons and community engagement it inspires throughout the year," points out Johnson.
"It's something very positive for people to do for all ages and all economic groups. So it's one of those very rare things that is helpful not just in the final expression we see on Bay Street, but it's all of the lead-up to it with the community involvement and the positive elements of the Junkanoo community that go into it."
For BTC, it's only the beginning. As it moves forward as a new company, it hopes to continue to develop a more substantial partnership with the Junkanoo community as a way to impact the lives of as many Bahamians as possible. It's essential, points out Johnson, for such corporations to give back in that way to continue to build up the type of community that they would like to see and be a part of.
"The company is not outside of the community," points out Johnson. "The people and customers who support the company are people who live like us in our same community. It's important for us to give back to them."
Do you know a person or organization that positively impacts their community? Let us know by writing to sonia@nasguard.com.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
